Twilight Allen followed the messenger back to the base.
The moment he stepped inside, Whitebeard’s booming voice echoed through the room.
“The purpose of this voyage is to clear out all the Marine branches in the New World.
We are responsible for the branches in the southern direction.” Although Marine G-5 Branch—the Marines’ final strategic fortress in the New World—had already been completely destroyed by Rocks, several smaller Marine bases were still scattered across these unpredictable waters.
Is the goal to bring the entire New World under their control?
Twilight Allen calculated silently.
“Oh, Twilight Allen is here.
Perfect,” Whitebeard said, noticing his arrival.
“First Division Captain Luobuma will stay behind to guard our base this time.
Duke, Twilight Allen, get your men ready.
You’re setting off with me tomorrow.” “Understood,” Twilight Allen nodded.
“Got it, Captain,” Duke replied.
The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.
The crew members chosen for the expedition gathered at the port, where a massive fleet sat anchored.
When Twilight Allen arrived alongside Whitebeard, the docks were already packed with people.
The heavy hitters of the Rocks Pirates were all present.
Shiki, Charlotte Linlin, John, Silver Axe, Ochoku—not a single commander was missing.
Glancing around, Twilight Allen spotted a familiar towering figure standing right behind Big Mom.
It was the future Emperor of the Sea, Kaido.
At this point in time, he was still just an apprentice who had been assigned to Linlin’s division.
Twilight Allen recalled from the original story that when the Rocks Pirates eventually disbanded at God Valley, Big Mom would give Kaido his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit—the Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Form.
It was a massive debt that Linlin would never let him forget, bringing it up nearly every time they crossed paths decades later.
Twilight Allen and his men stood quietly near their own vessel, having absolutely no intention of socializing with the other factions.
On a ship ruled by backstabbing and malice, keeping your distance was just common sense.
But trouble always had a way of knocking on his door.
“Yo, Newgate!
This must be the brat you picked up on your last run, huh?
You actually let a kid become a division captain?” The speaker had a thin, gaunt face and a treacherous smile.
He held a flintlock pistol casually in his left hand, with two Western swords tucked into his sash.
It was none other than Captain John.
“Hey, kid, why don’t you join my division instead?
I can make you a division captain too,” John said, turning his gaze to Twilight Allen with a calculating look.
“You should know I’m much richer than a pauper like Whitebeard.
Heh heh heh heh!” Whitebeard’s face darkened instantly, and Duke gripped his rifle tightly.
Though they knew Twilight Allen wouldn’t betray them, having an enemy commander openly recruit their man right in front of them was a blatant insult.
Twilight Allen had zero interest in making deals with a dead man walking.
He looked at John and said calmly, “Sorry, but I don’t care much about money.
I’m perfectly comfortable staying with Brother Newgate.” Bang!
A sharp gunshot shattered the noise of the harbor, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
The moment the refusal left Twilight Allen’s mouth, John had fired his flintlock without warning.
Twilight Allen simply tilted his head a fraction of an inch, letting the bullet whistle harmlessly past his ear.
In a smooth, lightning-fast motion, he drew the Snow Goose and pointed the blade straight at John’s throat, his eyes turning ice-cold.
“Want to die?” The surrounding pirates didn’t try to stop them.
Instead, they burst into amused laughter, and a few even whistled, thoroughly enjoying the sudden chaos.
Having fired the shot, John quickly raised his hands, his treacherous expression shifting into a mockingly innocent smile.
“Hey, hey, take it easy, kid.
It was just a joke.” Boom!
Before John could finish his sentence, his body flew backward through the air.
The space right in front of him visibly cracked like shattered glass.
Whitebeard had stepped forward, his fist still extended from the strike.
“John, you bastard, do you take me for air?
Maybe I should come over and play a joke on you too.
Gurararara!” John slammed hard into the dirt, rolling several times before pushing himself up.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, glaring at Whitebeard with pure resentment.
Just as he opened his mouth to snap back, the crowd suddenly grew quiet.
The sea of pirates parted down the middle, clearing a wide path as Rocks D.
Xebec walked toward the shore.
Rocks didn’t even bother looking at John, showing absolutely no intention of standing up for his commander.
He stopped before the gathered crews and looked around.
“It looks like you’re all in high spirits.
Good.
Vent that energy on the Marines instead.
These are the Log Poses and sea charts for the Marine branches.
I got the intelligence from Shakky.” Shakky?
Twilight Allen’s mind raced.
Rayleigh’s future partner?
Is she actually a member of the Rocks Pirates right now?
Or is she just running an information brokerage, selling secrets to whoever pays?
Before he could dwell on it, underlings began distributing the Log Poses and charts to each division.
Seeing that nobody dared to voice an objection, Rocks raised his fist.
“Then split up and set sail, boys!” “Roar!!!” The massive fleet split apart, the various divisions heading toward different sectors of the sea.
Whitebeard’s ship turned its bow, charting a course toward the first half of the New World.
As the island faded into the distance, Twilight Allen leaned against the ship’s railing, thinking back to the captain’s words.
“Old Duke, do you know anything about this Shakky woman?” Duke paused for a moment, lowering his rifle.
“Shakky?
I’ve never actually met her face-to-face, but whenever the crew needs top-tier intelligence, the Captain always gets it from her.” “She sounds like a incredibly capable woman,” Twilight Allen noted.
“Yeah,” Duke sighed, looking out at the waves.
“Word is she has informants tucked away in every major organization on the sea—the Marines, the World Government, and even crews like ours.
Nothing happens out here without her knowing about it.” Twilight Allen nodded.
It made sense; a woman like Shakky would never bind herself blindly to a tyrant like Rocks.
It was strictly business.
The voyage wasn’t just about hunting down Marine bases.
If they encountered any Marine warships along the way, they were fully authorized to sink them and take their supplies.
Raiding unaligned islands was also standard practice for the rest of the fleet.
After all, a massive organization like the Rocks Pirates couldn’t survive on farming and good intentions.
If Rocks wanted to be the King of the World, his men had to live like conquerors.
However, Whitebeard’s division operated differently.
When sailing alone, they refused to raid defenseless civilian islands, choosing instead to target rival pirate crews for supplies.
This strict moral code was exactly why greedy men like Shiki and John constantly mocked Whitebeard for being a pauper.
By afternoon, the ship had been sailing for hours.
The warm, bright sunlight cast a lazy spell over the deck.
Except for a few lookouts stationed in the rigging, most of the crew members were sprawled out across the wood, fast asleep and snoring loudly.
Twilight Allen, however, was still adjusting to life on the moving ship and couldn’t sleep at all.
Bored, he grabbed a fishing rod, cast a line into the water, and sat quietly on the deck.
A white seagull drifted down from the sky, landing gently on his shoulder.
Smiling, Twilight Allen reached into his pocket and shared some of his bait with the bird.
As he sat there, he activated his Observation Haki, letting his senses drift beneath the waves to perceive the sea life below, occasionally communicating with the passing fish.
It was excellent training for his unique Haki pattern.
At the same time, he decided to practice his Armament Haki.
He replaced his standard fishing hook with a piece of soft iron wire, constantly channeling his Haki into it to keep the wire rigid and strong against the pulling currents.
The seagull on his shoulder chirped softly, tilting its head.
“Is that so?
A ship at nine o’clock?” Twilight Allen whispered.
“Thanks, Little Blue.” Little Blue was the name he had given the bird.
Ever since the seagull discovered that this human could understand its cries and offered free food, it had been circling the ship constantly.
This time, the bird had spotted a vessel not far away, though it couldn’t distinguish what kind of ship it was.
“Hey!
Turn the ship toward nine o’clock!” Twilight Allen shouted over to the helmsman.
“There’s a vessel out there.
Let’s go check it out.” Duke, who was sitting nearby cleaning his lenses, looked up in absolute shock.
“Wait, how do you know there’s a ship over there?
Can your Observation Haki seriously reach that far?” Even Whitebeard, who was resting near the main mast, opened his eyes in surprise.
He knew his own advanced Observation Haki could clearly perceive movements within a fifteen-kilometer radius.
Since he hadn’t sensed anything yet, whatever Twilight Allen found had to be well beyond that distance.
Twilight Allen just grinned, pointing a finger upward.
“Ah, a friend told me.” “A friend?” Whitebeard looked up at the seagull circling directly above Twilight Allen’s head, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
“Gurararara!
Boys, time to wake up!” Whitebeard roared, choosing to trust Twilight Allen’s instincts completely.
“Get to your stations and turn the ship!
If it’s a pirate ship, we’re going to loot them clean!” The sleeping crew members bolted upright, their lazy expressions vanishing in an instant.
“Oh!
Money to spend!
Let’s move!” They shouted excitedly, rushing to the ropes to turn the massive vessel toward the target.